I wonder how many of us fall in to a career, and then make a real success at it before we realise that it’s not working for us. Of course, that creates a whole new problem. What are you going to do next? Well, that’s the story for my guest today. Dav Piper is now a gardener. But until recently her life was much like many people - the commute, the salary that’s hard to walk away from, a job that didn’t really work for her. She was successful by conventional standards but had fallen in to her care...
Feb 19, 2019•46 min•Ep. 110
I’ve spoken to writers before on this show. A massive highlight for me was talking to Tom McLaughlin ( Episode 85 ) about how he became a writer and illustrator for kids. But today’s guest helps people write for a living. FOR A LIVING! Joanna Penn ( www.thecreativepenn.com ) left the corporate world a decade ago to write full time. Since then she’s become an an award winning entrepreneur, a hugely successful fiction and non-fiction author, podcaster and teacher of other people who want to write ...
Feb 12, 2019•1 hr•Ep. 109
Maxwell Ivey describes himself as the Blind Blogger. Born in to a carnival family, he became blind in his teens but has never let it stop him doing what he wanted to do. He’s now not only a successful businessman but an inspirational speaker, coach and podcaster, helping people follow their dreams just as he has done. He wasn’t always someone who thought he could do anything. But he’s learnt not only what he’s capable of but that just because you can do a thing doesn’t mean you should! I wanted ...
Feb 05, 2019•52 min•Ep. 108
It’s all very well imagining yourself running your own business as a way to escape the rat race. But what’s the reality? What skills will you need beyond the technical skills you’ve been mastering for the last 20 or 30 years? That’s why I wanted to talk to my guest today, Phyllis Smith. Former founder of the Professional Business Women’s Network she’s an escapee from corporate world herself. She now has her fingers in many pies including as presenter at The Expert Channel. For me, it’s her skill...
Jan 29, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 107
Can you imagine seeing porn stars having sex in your backyard, or watching a topless waitress breastfeeding a kitten at one of your parent’s parties? Well, today’s guest lived that life. Romola Hodas was the eldest daughter of Marty (Martin) Hodas, aka “Times Square’s King of Porn,” the man who almost single-handedly built New York City’s pornography and adult entertainment industry from the 1960s to the 1980s. By the time she was eighteen, she had survived two kidnapping attempts, summering in ...
Jan 22, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 106
In 2012. Sunday Burquest was diagnosed with breast cancer. After multiple surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, and a bout with depression she discovered she was much stronger than she imagined and decided to follow her dream and ended up on the 33rd season of the Emmy award-winning reality tv show Survivor Millennials vs Gen-x. Sunday describes herself as a Grit Girl and I was very keen to talk to her about how she’s embraced so much change in her life, ignored any suggestion that she shouldn’t d...
Jan 15, 2019•53 min•Ep. 105
Welcome to a new season of the A Brilliant Gamble Podcast for 2019! I’m so excited to bring you my conversation with TV presenter and journalist, Andrea McLean, because there couldn’t be a better way to start the year. Not only is Andrea a huge presence on TV as co-host of Loose Women but she’s also the author of a new book – Confessions of a Menopausal Woman – which tells the story of her own abrupt menopause and what the experience is teaching her (and us). She’s also launched This Girl is On ...
Jan 08, 2019•52 min•Ep. 104
I'm sure you've often thought about what makes you happy or perhaps wondered where happiness comes from? Most of us want to feel happy about our lives even if we’re not happy all the time. We want the same from our lives outside of work and the work we do. Today’s guest is Mike Robbins, thought leader, sought after speaker, and the author of four books including Bring Your Whole Self to Work . In this conversation we talk about how personal development is becoming more acceptable within the work...
Dec 18, 2018•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 103
It seems to me that most change isn’t initiated by us but thrust upon us or dropped in to our path. If you’ve had an interesting life up to this point and want that to continue, you’re probably someone who grabs those unplanned opportunities and runs with them. Today’s guest is entrepreneur Madeleine Lambert. She runs “Content Refined”, a business based in Canada that helps companies grow their audience. She’s been responsible for massive growth in the business in just 2 years by forcing herself...
Dec 11, 2018•53 min•Ep. 102
I spend much of my time inside big business. As a keynote speaker and coach for leaders I’m very familiar with the ways large organisations operate and the universal challenges that they face against a backdrop of a world changing faster than ever before. For years I’ve been trying to help those organisations and their leaders to change. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they find it impossible. It’s always painful. Change hurts! As part of my mission to understand why and how we change and where we ...
Dec 04, 2018•50 min•Ep. 101
Do we ever really change? I’ve spent 20 years attempting to help individuals and companies to grow and develop so the concept that people are capable of change sits right at the heart of that. If we don’t ever change, what have I been doing all this time?! Of course, we do change. Life changes us. We gain new insights, we learn new lessons. And a lot of our development is really about unpicking bad habits of thinking and behaving that we’ve picked up along the way in order to reveal the true “me...
Nov 27, 2018•58 min•Ep. 100
Lee Feldman is a force of nature. Down to earth, humble and funny, he's also a guy who thinks and acts BIG. He was pivotal in revolutionising how major companies used their websites back in the late 1990s, is more recently the founder of THNK Vancouver. His latest project is to create Bicycle Mayors in every major city in the world in order to turn the bike, a 200 year old invention, in to the transportation mode of the future. I loved talking to Lee - partly because he thinks so differently to ...
Nov 20, 2018•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 99
Most of us work with people and it tends to be the people stuff that makes work brilliant and awful. If you’re having problems at work most likely they are people problems. This is why, of course, so many people are looking to change their job or change their company. But what if you take yourself with you when you go? In this archive show, I talk to Mark Fritz, an incredibly knowledgable leadership expert, keynote speaker and author, about how to take ownership of your job and how to give owner...
Nov 13, 2018•55 min•Ep. 98
On this week's show I'm talking to award winning Women's Advocate and Empowerment Coach, Ali Soleil, about embarking on adventures in your 40s and 50s. Ali is the host of the F Years Podcast and helps women in mid-life to go from fed up to fabulous. In this conversation we talk about living out of your car, finding the adventure that's waiting for you and letting go. If you're ready to run towards joy, you'll love Ali and her infectious enthusiasm for life. Check out The F Years Podcast for your...
Nov 06, 2018•55 min•Ep. 97
Today's show is another archive show – my interview with Bryan Falchuk. Bryan is the author of a wonderful book called "Do A Day" in which he explores why we get stuck in bad habits and how to break those habit... for good! Whether you're stuck in a rut in your work, with your health and fitness, in your relationship or something else, you will love this interview and Bryan's ideas to get unstuck. You can buy Bryan's book at http://www.doadaybook.com/amazon or http://www.doadaybook.com/amazonuk ...
Oct 30, 2018•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 96
There's a lot of talk in business about engagement and employee satisfaction and "leaders" spend a great deal of time (and money on leadership development courses) trying to work out how to get a more "turned on" workforce. Join me this week for a great archive episode! Behaviourist Jez Rose is a is a broadcaster, bee farmer, award-winning author and speaker, with a passion for improving cultures. Quintessentially British, he also has an obsession with tea. In this interview, we speak about Jez'...
Oct 23, 2018•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 95
We are in! We moved in to the smallholding last week and are starting to get used to being settled after so many months on the road. It’s very strange to put things in a cupboard knowing you won’t have to take it all back out in a matter of days! Moving house and starting a new lifestyle can be stressful and is certainly busy. Which is why today’s show is about “pressing pause” when things get hectic. Many of us find that hard to do. When we’re busy the idea of stopping, taking a breath, checkin...
Oct 16, 2018•20 min•Ep. 94
Some changes are easy to make. There will be adjustments you want to make to your life – big or small – that seem GIGANTIC to other people but, to you, they’re a walk in the park. But other changes...boy! These ones are tough! I’ve been pondering what makes certain changes harder than others and come up with a theory! In today’s show I talk about two kinds of change – Big Bangs and Daily Bangs – and the different strategies required to make a success of both. Personally I’m far better at Big Ban...
Oct 09, 2018•30 min•Ep. 93
When I first became a coach in 2000 I was one of the first wave of coaches in the UK. Generally young, successful women who’d come from the corporate world, we saw coaching as a way to help people move forward in their lives and make conscious choices about how they wanted to live and how they wanted to feel. Suzy Walker is one of the biggest names to come from that wave of coaches. Now Editor of Psychologies Magazine, she is author of the bestseller “Making the Big Leap” and for many years ran ...
Oct 02, 2018•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 92
There’s rarely an opportunity to reflect between the end of one project, adventure or experience and the next. So when the opportunity arises we should take it! What did we learn from our last experience and how can we take that forward to the next one? And what “Unfinished Business” is there – lessons we attempted to learn but failed to really grasp – that need to be at the heart of what’s coming next? My Unfinished Business from our Big Trip is how I handle stress. So in this week’s show I exp...
Sep 25, 2018•25 min•Ep. 91
6 months ago, almost to the day, we set off on our Big Trip . In a few weeks it comes to an end. But although that particular adventure is drawing to a close, we’re not done with Brilliant Gambles. Quite the reverse. When we return from Ireland, our final destination, we will move in to our new home – a two and a half acre smallholding in Somerset. The new Brilliant Gamble – growing our own food, rearing our own animals and trying to live more lightly on the planet – kicks off at the same time a...
Sep 18, 2018•1 hr•Ep. 90
Every journey has its call to return. Our hero must return to normal life (or life starts feeling normal again) and bring home the lessons he or she has learnt, ready to embark on the next adventure with a new level of awareness and courage. Well, we are at that point in our Big Trip . One more foreign foray and then we’ll be settling back to life in the UK...but don’t worry. We’re not going all conventional all of a sudden. We’re just starting our next Brilliant Gamble and seeing if we can deep...
Sep 11, 2018•51 min•Ep. 89
I’m from a musical family. My dad played drums in a pipe band. My mum directed musical theatre at summer camp. Folk and jazz were the soundtrack of my early life. And I have been in many bands myself over the years. But there have been times when music hasn’t featured as large. Long hours, a young family or just forgetting what impact creativity has on my sense of well-being meant that, for many years, I didn’t perform or even listen to music that much. Many of us have creative interests and, in...
Sep 04, 2018•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 88
As you know, I'm spending this year as a digital nomad, travelling around Europe. As we enter our 6th month of, what we like to call, The Big Trip , I’ve started to reflect on what this trip has taught me so far. It has not been an easy lifestyle choice but I had no idea before we started. I did not know just how hard it would be or what would make it tough. Some of the lessons I've learned are practical and specific to this type of trip. If you spend enough time in a 'foreign land', you see bey...
Aug 28, 2018•22 min•Ep. 87
A Brilliant Gamble is all about betting on the world of work changing and taking the risk of saying NO to the 9-5. Work isn't working as it is, that's for sure. And more and more people, myself included, are asking whether it has to be this way? Can we configure a life where work integrates seamlessly rather than requiring us to make sacrifices to succeed? It was with this in mind that I spoke to Will and Jessica Sueiro - they travel the world with their children, and a hamster called Sunshine, ...
Aug 21, 2018•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 86
I remember telling the careers advisor at school that I wanted to be a journalist... she laughed and said, "You'd better have something to fall back on!" I've always wondered what on earth would she have said if I’d have told her I wanted to be a full-time author? How many of us have dreamt of being a professional artiste? Writer, painter, poet, photographer, needle-felter? Such careers are often perceived as unrealistic dreams - perhaps a hobby at best, or something to save to do during retirem...
Aug 14, 2018•57 min•Ep. 85
When you make a change, especially a big disruptive one, everything that kept you stable and safe is thrown into the air! This can be hugely liberating. What held you back is gone and the future is full of adventure, opportunities and new stories to write. But it can also be unsettling, disorientating and fear-inducing. That’s when having a strong support network of friends, family, peers and colleagues really comes into its own. This week I speak to Elizabeth Dunne, co-founder of Two Desks Limi...
Aug 07, 2018•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 84
Sometimes you need the support of other people, strangers even, to make your dreams a reality. Other people who’ve gone before you, who know the pitfalls and who have sage advice to help you on your way. That’s how I found Jason Jenkins and the Epic Education podcast. On his show, Jason speaks to families who’ve taken the bold decision to travel together, often full time, each with their own recipe to make it work for them. It's fascinating that what feels like balance to one family doesn’t feel...
Jul 31, 2018•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 83
Many people talk about leaving their corporate job to start their own business. This idea is very appealing, of course. Imagine it - no boss to tell you what to do. No working hours dictated by the employer. No office politics. No commute. No worries, right? And, It is great, but when you’ve been brought up with a more conventional idea about what “success” looks like, it can be hard to let go of the security and status that a big corporate job brings. There's a new generation of people who are ...
Jul 24, 2018•51 min•Ep. 82
Why is there never enough time!? I was positive that changing our lifestyle would mean that I'd be able to create more time each day. I mean, what is there to do? You’re renting a house - so there’s no maintenance. You don’t have much stuff - so you aren’t going to spend your time looking for lost things, tidying or shopping. You’re driving from country to country and when you get there - surely you just sit about enjoying the scenery and occasionally answering an email? WRONG! As long as someon...
Jul 17, 2018•56 min•Ep. 81
